


To belong with

by mydeardeath



Series: To belong [4]
Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Casual Sex, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-11
Updated: 2018-08-15
Packaged: 2019-04-21 13:32:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14285994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mydeardeath/pseuds/mydeardeath
Summary: It's been six years since Tim died and Damian still misses him.





	1. Chapter 1

He wasn't sure what her name was. Had he even asked it ? The only thing he knew is that she was a beta and a decent fuck. Well, it's not as if they were going to see each other ever again. They had both been looking for a one night stand and weren't expecting anything more to happen the day after. He still warned her when he got dressed around one, she just grumbled something unintelligible before drifting back to sleep, not even bothering to look at him. Lucky her. He, on the other hand, would still be up for a few more hours. He hadn't patrolled yet for the day and considering the late hour, his father would be disappointed. He went quickly to his bike and took off to Crime Alley. He had progressively started to move out despite the family disapprobation. Apparently, it wasn't healthy. His relationship with them had been strained for years. They hadn't thought he would react that badly to Tim death, but they had known nothing of their relationship. For them, Damian had always hated the (second) dead Robin. They were so busy grieving in their own way, that they had barely paid attention to him in the first few months. He had been sleeping almost every day in Tim bed for five months before they realized what was happening. His father had forbidden him to go back after that, leading to a yelling match that nobody really won. The worst had been Dick siding with his father, making Damian feeling betrayed. Dick was supposed to be his Batman, his partner and support him not Bruce. They sent him to San Francisco, hoping that spending some time with the Titans and away from Gotham would help him cope with the loss of his brother. Because that what Tim was to him in their mind.

He hadn't been such a good idea. Everything here reminded him of Tim. Tim's room was still here, untouched. They were pictures on the wall, trophies, and souvenirs he knew Tim had won. And the team... they all had known him. Sometimes they would start saying something about him, or about what he would do in such a situation then stopped suddenly, remembering that he was gone, had been for years. Damian had lasted only three weeks. He hadn't warned his father of his return, going directly to Tim house. It had ended in another big fight in which Damian had drawn his blade and got benched until further notice. His father had found wise to enroll him in school, not undermined by his first catastrophic attempt. Damian made no friend, didn't even try to. He did do the work he was assigned to, besting everyone else in school. But it was mostly because of pride than anything else. Schoolwork didn't keep him much busy and with Robin taken away from him for an undetermined period of time, he was bored out of his mind. That's how he had started drawing. It kept him focus for hours, didn't necessitate any forms of socialization and calmed him. It became a habit when he had sudden fits of rage or was growing relentless. Then he would go his room and get to work. He tried a bit of everything: ink, acrylic, charcoal... And realized pretty soon that he was good at it. More than good, in fact. Not that it was surprising.

Thing calmed down for a bit after that. Damian got back in the street as Robin after two months, and if his relationship with Dick was still a bit tensed, Damian had stopped ignoring him. In costume, at least. He was still giving him a hard time at home despite the other multiple apologies. Nonetheless, his relationship with the first Robin was still way better than with his own father. Damian only spoke coldly to him and always as few words as possible. The only people he was really talking to were Alfred and Colin, but his friend wasn't living in Gotham anymore and didn't have always a lot of time to speak to him on the phone. And Cass was probably the siblings he minded the less at the moment, but she was rarely at home or even in Gotham. Tim had been the person she had been the closest to in the family, so now she didn't have much of a reason to come here. As for Jason, their relationship was non-existent. He had ceased to kill (at least in Batman territory) and was helping them when needed (probably because of misplaced guilt caused by his "replacement's" death). That didn't change the fact that Damian despised him for daring to hurt his Timothy. And Jason had probably not forgotten the beating he had given him. So they kept away from each other.

Thing got worse again after the year he turned fourteen, when he presented as an alpha. Looking back to this time, Damian thought they were lucky he was such a late bloomer. It was bad enough, so he couldn't imagine what could have happened had he presented a year sooner, when his relationship with his father and Dick was at its worst. He was feeling even more aggressive than usual and the fact that he couldn't control himself upset him even more. He was prompt to lash out, might he be at school or on patrol. The school direction had made him see a psychiatrist that had identified his behavior as the one of an alpha grieving his mate. His father hadn't forced him to see the man again, founding him incompetent. Damian didn't correct him. Didn't tell him about him and Tim. Not before he tried to clean the Omega home at least.

They had left Tim house in Crime Alley untouched for two years, no one wanting to live in it (Damian would have, if given the choice) or empty it. But Bruce had changed his mind after his son first rut. Damian had lost control during it and ran away from home. His father found him nesting in Tim's bed. That had made him want to act immediately, preparing to strip the building of everything that had been Tim's. Bruce fought he had won, that his word was final. But Damian refused to let it happen. As changing his father mind wouldn't have been possible, he had taken the matter before a judge. Even if they had never mated physically they had been legally bound to one another. Which meant that in lack of a testament or of any children, Damian was to inherit everything that had belong to the Omega. Which meant that only Damian had the right to touch anything in Tim's house and that if his father tried anything, he could sue him. No need to say, that this revelation had shocked his father. So Damian got to keep the house as it has been when Tim was still here. The downside of his action was the pitying looks his family was sending his way. Thankfully the news had only traveled among them and a part of the heroes community. He probably would have murdered someone if he had received one of this looks from his classmates. At least, their pity deterred them to ask any questions about how and when it had happened.

Even now, even after he reached the age of seventeen, father and son had a difficult relationship. But they had gotten better. Even when Damian had announced that he would move out at the end of high school which was in just four months from now. It had been too sudden for his father, who didn't see why he had to left so soon. He hadn't helped that Damian had started to empty his room after telling him nor that he had decided to use Tim house for himself. But, as Damian told him, there wasn't much Bruce could do to stop him. He had already been years since Damian had started to drift away from the family and there wasn't much that could change that.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a long time since I updated anything. Ironically, I have been less productive since I finished my school year. You can blame it on Fortnite, I've been spending my days playing at this game !

"You reek of sex, Dami. You could have at least taken a shower." Dick greeted him. He was smiling but Damian could hear the reproach in his voice.

"I didn't have tim" He barked at the older, not in the mood for a lecture. But he seemed that escaping it was not a possibility.

"You're four hours late, ten minutes more would have changed nothing." 

"It's just surveillance, you don't need help for that."

"Maybe I just want you here because I like your company" Damian shot him an unimpressed glare.

"You're not funny, Grayson."

"Excuse me ? I'm the funny one in this family !"

"It's not that hard."

Dick started to pout, which look completely ridiculous on a thirty-one years old man.

"I brought Chinese takeout, 'thought you might be angry."

"That's why you're my favorite brother !" It seemed that the food had made Dick totally forgot the insult to his sense of humor (or lack of it, depending on the point of view).

"Once again, it's not that hard."

Dick ignored him and began to chatter happily while eating his food. He didn't mind that Damian remained silent, he was just happy to spend some time with his baby brother. He wasn't in Gotham as much as he used to. Most of the time he was in New York, as Kori hadn't wanted to live in Gotham (Bruce still refused to let any metas or aliens intrude in his city, even the good ones) and she didn't like Bludhaven very much. She didn't think it was the best place to raise a child, so they had moved together in New York after the birth of Mar'i. The little girl was soon to be four years old, so Dick rarely left New York. He still came from time to time to help on cases. Well, that was what Bruce always said. But it was just because he couldn't simply ask Dick to visit because he missed his son and wanted to see him. 

Kori didn't mind the time she was left alone to take care of their daughter, she also often went away with Jason and Roy. They weren't really an official team anymore, they just got together when they were all available. The team had split after Mar'i birth since Kori couldn't travel all over Earth with her boys anymore. Plus, she did spend more time with Dick. They hadn't lived together before, their relationship hadn't been that serious but they had still decided to keep the child. They weren't even really a couple. Basically, they were friends that had a child together. And that, occasionally, had sex. They both didn't want to settle definitely, not able to always stay in the same place. It's why they worked so well together ; they simply had similar desires.

When Dick was coming to Gotham, he rarely brought Mar'i with him, so Damian often went to New York to see her. He offered him a good excuse to get away from Gotham, from his father. Plus, he loved the little girl. Contrary to most of the adult in his life, she didn't judge him all the time. She didn't know much of Tim, of their history. For her, Damian was just her cool uncle. Her favorite, as Damian liked to claim. Which was probably true (after her parents, of course). But to be honest, Damian wasn't really playing fair. He would teach the girl how to always get her way, how to manipulate people to get whatever she wanted, how to make her parents bent to her caprices. That, unsurprisingly, Dick hadn't appreciated at all.

To get back to his little brother, he had told the girl she could go live with her uncle for a few days, if she wanted. He hadn't ask Damian beforehand, but the younger couldn't refuse after Mar'i had gotten her hope up. And the kid might have been like him in some points, but she was first and foremost her parent's daughter. Which came with their joyfulness and exuberance. She was a little ball of energy : always moving and always talking. He was tired after only two days of taking care of Mar'i, begging Dick to come and get her after four. He should have known not to underestimate anyone of this family. After that, he had had to bear Dick smugness. Even a year after, Dick still liked to bring that moment back, much to Damian's exasperation.

Hours passed with Dick filling in the silence until the sun started to set in the sky and they both agree to go home. Their target hadn't left the building all night long and the man always acted like an upstanding citizen during the day. Dick sent a message to Kori to inform her that his case hadn't progressed and he would stay in Gotham until further notice. He took an eternity to hung up, under Damian's impatient glare.

"You will understand when you will find someone that you love."

"I already did." The light atmosphere disappeared immediately. Dick didn't have to ask who Damian was referring to. He didn't even think about the possibility that Damian had just recently found someone. No, he knew Damian was talking about Tim. The fallen Robin they never talked about in front of him. They were always careful to never mention this name when the younger was within hearing distance. So, unlike his usual self, Dick remained silent while he drove Damian home.

When the car came to a stop in front of Damian's house, Dick hesitated :

"If you ever want to talk about it, you can come to me."

"No, thanks." And Damian left, slamming the door behind him.

The young Alpha slumped down to the floor as soon as he was in his home. It was nice of Dick to offer his help, but Damian preferred to avoid the matter altogether. It was easier for him. None of them had ever lost a mate, they couldn't possibly understand how he felt. And his father could hardly lecture him about it. After all, he had let his parents' death dictate his whole life.

He stayed on the ground for a few minutes, the time to regain his calm and then force himself to get up to his room. He had fallen asleep more than once against the door and woken up in a bad mood the following mornings. Plus, he couldn't let it affect him so strongly. Dick hadn't even said  _his_ name. He climbed the stairs slowly, his feet seemingly heavier and he dragged himself to his bed, throwing carelessly his uniform on the floor. His eyes closed as soon as his head hit the pillow.

He was so exhausted that he didn't notice that someone else was already in his room, didn't ear them crept up to him. He only noticed something was off when a knife slide against his throat.


	3. Chapter 3

Jason stepped into his safehouse through the window, entering swiftly the dark apartment. He sensed immediately that he wasn't alone and sighed. He had been back in Gotham less than three hours ago and hadn't even gone out as Red Hood, yet the old man had already found out about his return.

"Hi, Bruce ! How nice of you to visit !" Jason called out without looking at the man.

His former mentor finally stepped out of the shadow, dressed in civilian clothes and not in full Batman's regalia. A good sign. It meant he wasn't (much) angry at Jason and nobody was on the edge of dying (for once).

"It's good to see you, Jason," He said calmy, offering him a little smile.

"So want do you want ?" He looked at him suspiciously.

"Maybe I just wanted to visit my son, he sure won't do it himself."

"Bullshit, I always stop by the manor when I'm in town !" Jason defended himself.

"Yes. To see Alfred" Bruce countered.

Okay, that might be true. But it's not as if Jason was actively avoiding Bruce. It wasn't his fault if Bruce was rarely home when he dropped by. Their relationship had improved with time but it's still felt weird to be in Bruce presence outside of their costumes. It's not as if he still hated the man, there were still periods where his anger came back, flashes of pit madness but there were rare nowadays. Plus Bruce wasn't the only reason he liked to come to the manor when Alfred was alone. There was a lot of tension between him and Damian. And if the younger made an effort to get past it in the field, it was another matter in their civilian identity. So they never participated in any family activities at the same time. The last time they had done so was for Mar'i birth. None of them had wished to upset the new parents.

Jason didn't bother to reply. He threw his bag on the floor and went to grab a beer. He offered one to Bruce, knowing perfectly he wouldn't take it but Alfred had raised him well. He then went to sit on the sofa and motioned to Bruce to join him. He may have said otherwise, but he knew the older man wasn't here just for a simple visit. But, well he could pretend to believe for a few minutes and watch the man struggle to have a trivial conversation, that should be fun.

***

It had taken more time than Jason had anticipated for Bruce to come to the point. The man had stayed silent for a while before asking awkwardly him how he and his team were doing. Half an hour had passed when Bruce finally started to explain the true reason he had sought Jason out. A few hours earlier, the League had detected temporal abnormalities in multiple locations in Gotham. Nothing had happened yet, but they would need to check each of them. That how Jason had ended up in this quiet alleyway. 

The area was calm, not situated in a dangerous of Gotham, not his usual turf at all. Here, he didn't have a network of street rats and street workers, no one who would trust him on sight and willingly give him information. So he didn't have much of a choice but to wait for something (or nothing) to happen without the help of the neighborhood. He settled on the top of a roof that gave him a good sight of the whole neighborhood, sitting on the edge of the building, his feet hanging in the air. He took the opportunity to listen to Roy's new voicemail. He and Lian had gone on vacation a few days ago, all expenses paid up by Queen. The old man had suddenly decided to act as a doting grandfather, it seemed à la mode in the hero community these days. With both of his teammates busy with their kids, Jason kind of felt lonely. Probably what brought him back to Gotham. Dick had made great effort to bring him back into the family after Tim's death and his "big brother" had kinda grown on him as time passed. Jason kinda felt guilty that he owed his return in the family to a guy he had never been nice too. To a guy, he had tried to kill. And he wasn't the only one to found it unfair. Damian had made it clear that he wouldn't forgive him. At first, Jason didn't understand why. Yes, Damian had beaten him after he had hurt Tim, but, as far as he knew, they hadn't had that much of a good relationship. Then, Damian proclaimed Tim to be his mate, and it suddenly made a lot more sense. It had also discouraged Jason to follow in his teammates' path. For a moment, he had imagined having in own mate and children, but Damian had reminded him of the style of life they were leading, of the risk of his loved ones' death. Or of his own. He had happened once, he could happen again and he was pretty sure he wouldn't get a third chance.

Jason was abruptly pulled out of his thoughts by his comm buzzing. Without preamble, Batman explained that dozens of people had started to appear all over town, at the locations they had put under surveillance. They seemed humans and pretty inoffensive, just a bit panicked. But they had caused a few traffic accidents so they would need to be secured and brought to a hospital to be examined before the police could interrogate them on what exactly had happened to them. As Jason started to express his agreement, a loud bang resonated close to him.

"Think I got one here, talk to you later".

Jumping from his perch, Jason approached carefully the corner, his weapons non-apparent, hands held before him as to not scare whoever was there. A petite figure was leaning against the wall, breathing heavily. Jason purposefully made a bit of noise while coming closer to warn the person of his presence. The person turned quickly toward him. Long dark bangs were hiding most of his face but they still looked familiar. Then, without warning, they took off in the opposite direction from where Jason was standing.

"Wait" he yelled at them, but they kept running away. Jason sprinted after them, almost losing them for the start. He hadn't expected them to be so quick on their feet. Luckily for him, the person seemed to not know the area very well and turned in a dead end. They seemed to be panicked, not liking to be cornered like that. Jason left a few meters between them to try to make more at ease but he didn't seem to be working well. He took off his helmet and explained that he was here to help, not harm while approaching slowly. He finally got to get a closer look at their face. Recognition hit him hard and he opened his mouth to call him but words never left his mouth as something hit him hard on the head. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapters should be here every 10th of the month from now on. Hopefully.


	4. Chapter 4

He woke up with a hell of a headache but at least he wasn't still in the alley. Lots of people would have loved to find him in this position. No, instead he was back in the manor, in his old room. Which wasn't much better. He would have preferred to be found by the outlaw. Unfortunately, Kori was in New York since Dick was here and Roy was in Asia. The only positive point was the plate of Alfred's cookies waiting for him on his bedside table with a glass of water. After swallowing it, he got up, going straight up to the cave, sure to find Bruce down there and the missing pieces of last night.

As expected, the old man was there but, more surprisingly, Dick and Damian were also present. The last was brooding in a corner, his jaw clenched and arms held against his chest. Jason turned to Dick, silently asking him what was going. But, by the look Dick gave him in return, it seemed the other didn't know much either. Then his big brother attention turned to Jason's sweets and he tried to reach for them. Jason quickly moved the plate out of his reach and went to stand beside Bruce, avoiding Dick pleading eyes. These were HIS baked goods, he wouldn't let anyone touch any of it. Focused on Dick, he hadn't noticed Bruce stealing one of his cookies and when he realized what had happened he turned an indignant look on his former mentor. Bruce didn't even spare him a glance, still bent over the computer. At least, it made Dick giggle a bit, breaking a bit of the heavy atmosphere.

Bruce suddenly turned to them apparently finished with whatever he had been doing when Jason arrived.

"Now, that you're all here we can begin. As you all know, yesterday dozens of people appeared all over Gotham through different breaches. Most of them were secured, they were all pretty disorientated and have yet to be interrogated. But, some of them have already been identified." Bruce showed a few documents on the screen. Some of the faces were familiar to him. He just couldn't remember why.

"They all have a common point. They're supposed to be dead. All presumed victims of robots attack six years ago." Jason felt Damian tense up behind him. "No bodies were ever found in the center of the attack so we can't be sure they were really here."

"Maybe the robots weren't here to kill, just to take people." Dick hypothesized.

"It's a far-fetched theory and we shouldn't rush into..." Bruce started only to be interrupted by Damian. "Tim may still be alive."

"Damian." Bruce sent his son a warning look, showing exactly what he thought of the idea.

"I think he's right." Every head turned to Jason, Bruce reproach dying in his throat. He hadn't expected Jason to side with Damian. "I thought I was just imagining things, but with what you said... I think it was really him. He was the one who knocked me out in that alley."

"Let's not make any hasty assumptions. We have to proceed with methods and not let our emotions..."

"I'm gonna get him" Damian cut him off once again, not waiting for an answer before making his way up the stairs.

"Damian !" Bruce yelled after him but his son completely ignored him. 

***

Sometimes, Damian really wanted to hit his father in the face and demand he stops being so cold. He could see the irony here since he wasn't so fond of showing his emotions either, but this was about Tim. Bruce should be a least a bit more enthusiastic at the possibility that he was not dead as they had all thought. If there was a chance that Tim was alive and out there, he would find him and bring him home.

Damian called Barbara immediately after exiting the cave, waking her up. She started to complain at him for interrupting her well deserved sleep, saying it would better be important.

"Well, finding if Tim is really alive didn't seem to be a top priority for father. So, how important it is, depends entirely on you." Damian announced, his frustration evident in his voice.

Barbara sight but she listened when the boy explained the entire situation and what had led him to think that Tim might be back. Damian knew she most likely thought he was delusional and still hanging on flimsy hope. She didn't call him out on it and simply complied, using the eyes of every camera to look for Tim. He thanked her for at least trying because it didn't matter if she believed or not. What mattered was that she was helping him and that's all he was asking for. Plus it wouldn't be the first time one of them had come back from the dead. It wasn't impossible. Especially not in their family. 

Damian started by checking every hospital and clinic for John Doe patients that had arrived last night. He had no trouble convincing the nurse to let him see with his own eyes every one of them. But, well, it wasn't hard when you were using the fact that you had lost your mate in the event of the robots attack and that you were hoping to find them back. Once again, it didn't matter if they believed that it was survivors of the attack that had reappeared or not, they all pitied him for losing his mate and didn't dare refuse him that.

Next, he went to all of Tim's old safehouses or any of the one the family had been using six years ago. He didn't get much result from it easier. The Drake mansion was also a dead end and Damian was running out of ideas. 

Getting a bit desperate after checking Tim could have deemed safe, Damian decided to simply seek near Tim last known location. Fortunately, his father like to keep tabs on everything so he didn't have to call Jason to ask him where Tim had knocked him unconscious last night.

As he grew more and more frustrated as the hours ran by, Damian put on his Robin uniform despite the fact that it was still daytime and decided to pay a visit to every criminal hang out in case they were holding Tim.

He didn't get what he was looking for, but he did get to beat up some assholes and that help him feel better. Slightly.

***

All hope had left him by the end of the day. He had looked everywhere he could think of, in vain. There was no trace of Tim anywhere. He had called Barbara many times throughout the day, and he could hear the pity growing in her voice every time he did and she had nothing new to tell him. So he just turned off his phone to stop the constant buzzing of his father trying to contact him and went home.

He shed his clothes off on his way up to his room and plop down on the bed without bothering to take a shower. And for the second time in a day, he felt someone else's presence in the room. He hadn't thought they had anything left to discuss. He had made it pretty clear that he didn't care about supposedly being in danger and if that was really the case, he didn't need her protection. He hadn't needed her for years.

No dagger came to his throat this time. His opponent hadn't been waiting in a corner of his room this time but had been lying in his bed. In an instant, he felt their weight fell upon him and hands choking him. This was definitely not Talia. 

He kicked them off him with a strong blow in the guts and send them rolling on the floor. Damian quickly got up and stood ready to fight. The intruder didn't waste any time to jump back on him, going for a nerf strike but he lacked the strength for it. His attacker seemed to have knowledge that a common thief would not have. But an assassin, especially one sent to kill him, shouldn't have been this weak. Because it made no doubt that Damian was stronger. In a matter of seconds, he had him in a headlock and was letting them struggle vainly against his hold.

He released them once they had stopped kicking. Damian went to turn the light on while the intruder was taking deep breaths, sitting on the floor. The man wasn't looking at him and most of his face was hidden behind his hair. Still, Damian could tell it was him.

"Tim" the name escaped his lips and the man raised his head towards him suddenly. 

Damian fell to his knee in front of him and started to reach out to him with his hand. He stopped just before his face, not daring to touch him in fear he would disappear.

“Damian ?” Tim said softly, his voice barely more than a whisper. Damian let out a strangled laugh as his hand finally touched Tim.

“You came back.” Damian couldn't hide the wonder in his voice and he didn't care. This was Tim.

“Is this real ?” He asked Damian.

“I hope so. I missed you so much.” Damian answered honestly.

Tim apparently did too since he slammed his full body into Damian's and hung onto him as his life depended on him. Damian dared hugged him back. He could feel Tim's ribs under his fingers. The Omega had lost a lot of weight. 

"Don't cry, Timothy," Damian told him, caressing his cheek.

"I'm not the only one crying here." He offered him a small smile.

"You were dead."

"I never died. One minute I was in Gotham fighting this waves of robots and the next I..." His voice broke down as his whole body started to shake.

"Shh, it's okay. I got you. You're home now." Damian soothed him.

Tim buried his face in Damian's neck, taking deep breaths of his scent. It helped him calm down and soon Tim was nodding off. He had probably been sleeping when Damian came home and their fight and talk must have wearied him out even more. Damian carried him to the bed, putting him gently under the sheets. He was ready to let the other man alone when Tim put his hand on his arm.

“Stay, please. I don't want to be alone." Tim pleaded.

"I'm not leaving you. I promise." Reassured, Tim went back to sleep, nestled against Damian.


End file.
